Memory Loss

Some years ago, my mother's window cleaner knocked on the door of her house to tell her that he had finished cleaning the windows, up and down, back and front and to ask for his payment. As often happens to all of us as we get older, he spoke to her slowly and loudly. "There is no need to shout or to speak slowly." she said. "I am neither deaf nor suffering from dementia." After that he always addressed her as a normal human-being, even though she was in her nineties. It is a problem we all worry about; the onset of dementia. My memory is not as good as it was but it is still not too bad. I know many worse.

Loss of memory is becoming quite a problem these days. The Leveson Enquiry has turned up some awesome memory losses. It is not just one or two individuals forgetting the odd detail. It is the massive collective loss of memory of almost everybody being interviewed. Is it catching? Is it a virus that has spread unseen through the corridors of power? James Murdoch can't remember anything about phone hacking at the News of the World. He doesn't remember reading various incriminating e-mails. Rupert Murdoch similarly can't remember things. Although he has been in out of Downing Street for years — via the back entrance — why? — he can't remember meeting several prime ministers and he does not remember ever asking them for anything. Nor does he remember anyone telling him about the problems at the News of the World..

James Murdoch can't remember the close exchange of e-mails between News International and BSkyB and the government and Jeremy Hunt can't remember any of the e-mails either. All 163 pages are a closed book to all concerned. Extraordinary! In fact Jeremy Hunt seems to have been entirely unaware of what his specially appointed adviser — the surely free-rolling Adam Smith — was doing any of the time. The memories of members of the Murdoch family may be a bit selectively shaky but it defies credibility to suggest that a special adviser to a minister is operating entirely without the ministers knowledge. I don't like Jeremy Hunt and I expect that sooner rather than later his ministerial career will bite the dust — and we can forget all about him!

/